The Legend of Midas Touch Lives On...

Hello hello!

Crimson Lotus Tea has been blending sheng puer for the past several years, and they blended a puer that goes by the name of Midas Touch. Midas Touch (which I’ll call MT for short) was originally released in 2015, but due to popularity, sold out rather quickly. In response, Crimson Lotus Tea re-blended this puer for their 2016 line-up. According to Crimson Lotus Tea’s website, MT is blended with three different Jingmai sheng puer teas, and in return, created the tea that gave their name so much attention. Speaking of names, MT got it’s name from King Midas, who according to legend, turned everything he touched to gold. With keeping legend in mind, does this famous puer blend turn your tastebuds to gold when drinking it? Lets find out!

Steeps 1 - 4

For this session, I used 6.6g of tea in a 100mml vessel, and brewed it with water at a temp of 185ºf. At first, the thick and brassy notes of sweet broth hit the forefront of my tongue. As this tea made its way to the back of the throat, a light apricot and lemony tartness trailed behind in its footsteps. As the steeps went on, MT’s body became viciously thicker and oilier. With the thicker body, the clear tasting notes of a roasted leaf pile, mixed with dry cut grass, added to the copper-like body to create a complex infusion. As the fourth steep finished, this teas sweetness grew even thicker and heavier.

Steeps 5 - 8

With the continuing steeps, Midas Touch’s body kept transforming as the brassy body started to resemble peat moss — almost like a rainforest in the mouth. The aspect of autumn leaf pile became more noticeable as the grassy notes died down. However, the fruity sweetness began to adopt more of a personality as the lemony tartness disappeared in to the apricot undertone. While steeping the eighth infusion, I noticed MT’s sweetness began to echo in the corners of the mouth, and was getting too loud to ignore. This sweet sensation would only make a sane person want more.

Steeps 9 - 12

Midas Touch’s brassy body settled down in these later steeps, as the peat-like notes kept resembling a rainforest more and more. In return, this tea’s oiliness began to dilute. Despite MT’s diluting oiliness, its texture kept getting softer and softer, which felt like a fine velvet cloth being brushed over the base of the tongue. In the later part of the steeps, the apricot undertone progressively vanished altogether. However, this tea’s sweetness hit a bliss point which created a feeling of euphoria within the tastebuds. Given this new sensation, I could feel my body relax all over as my thoughts disappeared into the remaining infusions of Midas Touch…

Conclusion

Upon finishing the session with Midas Touch, it was clear to see why others have said this tea carries a great deal of energy. This puer blend is fantastic and intoxicating, along with beautifully highlighting the greater attributes of the Jingmai region, such as its characteristics and quality, in such a positive light. Speaking of quality, Crimson Lotus Tea did a fantastic job with the quality of MT as everything was aesthetically pleasing to look at, as much as it was tasty. Overall, MT is a complex tea that’s very easy to fall in love with, partially due to the way this tea’s tasting notes were presented. I personally think that the legend of Kind Midas is not just a legend, because he existed for the brief moment in time I was drinking this tea. King Midas was resurrected in my tea cup, and ended up turning my tastebuds to gold…